The Elemental Seals
by Hawner
Summary: The Seals that maintain the balance of the 5 elements in the world have been stolen. It will be Ichigo and the rest's task to recover them, with some help...


Hi there! Here I am trying to share this fic again, but this time in English. Let's see if this way it can reach more people.

Notice that to make things easier for me when translating, I use an online translator and then read it all, so I can find and fix mistakes and so. Even with that, maybe some may have slipped in, so sorry about that. If you find any wrong word or something, please tell me and I will fix it. Also, English is not my native language, as you may have guessed. Please have mercy. ^^U

This Fanfic's story time-line is between when Ichigo is in Hueco Mundo after defeating Ulquiorra and his battle against Aizen. I wanted to write this as some kind of filling arc (You now, when in anime they make chapters that don't belong to the manga so it can make some distance between them). In the manga, that battle against Aizen had just begun in the manga when I started this, but things happened and I could not update at the rate I would have liked. Now it would be wiser make the time-line be just before this last arc, when he recovers his shinigami powers, but that Ichigo is too mature for me. I like much more the one before he defeated Aizen and had lost his powers. Sorry if you don't like it.

I think there is no need of holding you any more. Only to say that Bleach, it's characters, places and all that stuff belongs to Tite Kubo. I only own the original (characters and so) made by me.

Enjoy. ^^

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Chapter 1: The stealing

A dark room, no source of Light. The eyes of the swordman, until merely seconds ago observing each of his opponent's movements, now were seeing nothing but darkness. He changed to a defense stance, trying to, as he couldn't see, at least hear any sound or feel any source of reiatsu. But he knew even that wouldn't work.

The enemy had sneak in the Fire Chamber without any of the guards noticing his presence. His footsteps had been totally soundless and his reiatsu seemed to be controlled to the minimum as you wouldn't be able to feel him even 3 feet away. It was luck that made the swordsman turn back to check the insides of the room before lock it. Otherwise he would not have seen the intruder inside and grabbing the Elemental Seal.

How did the intruder to seal the room in total darkness was unknown for him, but he couldn't afford to loose time discovering it. If the intruder managed to get out of the palace with the Seal it would be a catastrophe.

Calling for all his courage, he run forward in a fierce blow, hoping to find his enemy in there and defeating him with that attack.

He was expecting too much from himself.

He had barely run two meters when an intense light appeared in front of him, almost blinding him. But his eyes, instead of what they should do because of pain caused by that light, were open in surprise. How was it possible? Only the Commander could unlock the power of seals! But despite being impossible, an undoubtedly real and burning flame engulfed his body, burning it before even that a single cry escapes from his scorched throat...

The night was quiet for the guard. Too much. In the last month nothing had happened. True was that they didn't even had problems with the Hollows, as the shinigami, guardians of the spiritual world, dealt with them, but even with that one hollow sneak in from time to time. True was also that, when this happened, it lasted not much seeing the great Elemental World, since any of the lookouts, as he himself, beat it with great ease. But so much downtime bored him.

He would better be not wishing any activity.

A flaming Phoenix appeared in front of him. It was a routine report, he thought at first. Not even close.

-Urgent message from the Commander in Chief to all units! Intruders in the halls of the five elements have been detected! Don't let them escape at any cost! I repeat: message...!

The guard could not believe what was happening. The rooms of the five elements, the most protected in the Elemental World, had been invaded! Without wasting a second, he drew his katana and invoked his power through the Jikai, which would transform his weapon in greaves, gauntlets and a helmet made of pure fire, which would allow him to move quickly and directly to the Castle and look for the intruders.

But nothing happened. What was happening? He repeated the invocation and this time something happened, but it wasn't what he expected. The flames did not stay on her feet, hands and head without causing any damage, but surrounded his whole body and began to burn it. Shouting around him told him that similar situations occurred everywhere. Little served him knowing it at the gates of death.

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-Come on, Rukia! Is getting away!

-Wait, Ichigo! We must try to surround him or it will escape as soon as we reach it!

-Damn! I already know it! How can it be so fast?

The two shinigami jumped in the air chasing a devilishly fast Hollow floating like them up ahead. Its shape, a mixture of body of reptile, lion paws and bull's head, was now far from it's speed now close because it had stopped before repeating the process. He seemed to be enjoying this game of cat and mouse.

And these cats nothing didn't like the game.

-Come back here, damn!- Shouted Ichigo while he concentrated on redouble their efforts to execute the Shunpos, with which he sought to move closer to his prey.- You'll go down now! GETSUGA TENSHO!- Hitting the air with his huge sword came out of it a sickle of Blue energy, which traveled at high speed the distance that separated the shinigami of its prey and impacted on the elusive Hollow.- Yes! It's over!

Or so it seemed.

Cleared the smoke, the Hollow figure was still intact and even seemed to laugh at the ridiculousness of the attack. But it had stopped more than what it should.

- MAE, SODE NO SHIRAYUKI!

Rukia had taken advantage of that slip to place herself beneath the Hollow with intention of releasing his zanpakuto and, with it's power, freeze the annoying Monster. In the mind of Ichigo, the image of victory was already clear. The column of ice in which Rukia intended to catch the Hollow was virtually unbreakable. He could not escape.

But, instead of the katana transforming in a beautiful zanpakuto made of pure snow, Rukia's arm began to cover ice harmful for her.

- What is going on? What's happening?

Ichigo watched the scene, confused. -Rukia! What happens?

In response, a cry of pain from his companion tore the tranquility of the night. Half of his arm was at the mercy of the ice.

A ray of hope crossed the sky in the form of an arrow of light, impacting accurately in the uncontrolled zanpakuto and breaking the ice, saving the live of the shinigami. The eyes of the couple sought the source of their salvation, finding it in a young archer who both knew well.- Ishida!

The mentioned glanced for a moment to the Hollow and, without wasting any more time, he aimed with his faithful bow in it's direction. Where before there was only air, an arrow made of reiatsu appeared on the bow, ready to be fired. But didn't a lone arrow fly to meet its objective, but a thousand of them, all in the same direction and with the same goal.

As fast as the hollow fast was, it was impossible to prevent such an attack. All arrows hit and destroyed the creature.

- As always, I have to deal with the Hollows you can't fight. And this was not specially powerful.- Said Ishida as he placed his glasses properly.

- Very funny. I could beat him alright. I didn't need you to intervene.

- Sure. That is why it flew away from you each time you got closer, right? I have been following you for a while, you know?

Before he could reply that, the attention of Ichigo was derived to a most important issue due to a groan of pain.

-Rukia!

Shinigami and Quincy approached his friend, worried. Despite the fact that the freezing had not spread by not having contact with the uncontrolled zanpakuto, ice was still trapping part of the arm, and the rest began to get purple due to the cold.

- What the hell has happened? - Asked Ichigo concerned.

- Leave that for later. We have to take her to Inoue's home so she can help her.

The young shinigami nodded his head and carrying her at his back, took his companion through the night, noticing the frozen arm hitting him in his hip and her friend shivering very badly.

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His steps were hasty and full of impatience. The call of the Commander Yamamoto had sounded very urgent in all the Seireitei. Only in times of crisis or in matters of great importance all the Gotei 13 was called in the meeting room. And this had all the looks of being one of those times.

The most worrying of the call was that, for the first time in history, at least that he knew, he had required the presence of the lieutenants of the squadrons that had no captain to attend the meeting. Kira Izuru was concerned above all by this latter.

Getting closer to the door of the room, it opened letting him walk in. There, each one in their place waited the rest of his fellow captains and lieutenants.

- Oh! The young Kira has come. I suppose that you come representing the Third Squad.

Kyoraku Sunsui, Captain of the 8th Squad, greeted the young shinigami with a carefree smile.

- I am. I got the urgent call of the Commander to come to the meeting. Does anyone know what happens? I believe that this is the first time that lieutenants attend these meetings.

- Certainly it is.- Ukitake Zuushirou, Captain of the Thirteenth Squad and friend of Kyoraku, intervened in the conversation.- Must be something important to make it happen.

In those moments it appeared the General Commander of the Gotei 13 and captain of the First Squad: Yamamoto Genryuusai. With quick and firm step despite his apparently advanced age, he advanced towards the throne and sat down facing the rest of the attendees

- I called all of you due to a matter of high seriousness that can affect everyone, both the spiritual and the human world. I have received an emergency message from the General Commander of the Elemental World.

A spark of recognition appeared in the eyes of some of present, except the young lieutenant's and the Eleventh Squad Capitan Zaraki Kenpachi's.

- Elemental World? What the hell is that? I've never heard about that place.

Hitsugaya Toushirou, Captain of the Tenth Squad, sighed at ignorance showing his Fellow.- The Elemental World is a plane of existence similar to ours and also with similar function. We maintain the balance of the souls of the human world, whereas in the elemental world they control the power of the elements. Fire, Water, Earth, Air and Lightning are under his supervision.

Kenpachi gave the impression of having understood only a quarter of what Hitsugaya had explained to him, but Commander Yamamoto continued.

- The five elements are controlled by five Seals of enormous power. Thanks to these Seals, the elements can be used harmlessly: water calms thirst, fire warms the body, air is breathable, Earth is firm under our feet and Lightning gives energy. Without these Seals, chaos would prevail over the human world and on our own.

- I don't give a damm about that. What I want to know is if there are strong people with which to fight in that world. I'm bored so much inactivity.

A general sigh was heard in the room. Kenpachi's war fame was gained and well deserved

- Apparently, last night intruders entered the Chambers where the five seals lie and they stole them.- Continued the Commander between murmurs of astonishment.- This may cause the total unbalance of forces of nature, and that would be disastrous. They have asked us for help locating the thieves and recovering the Seals before the damage can not be undone.

Briefly the whispers spread through the room, until a voice resonated.- Yama-ji, does the disappearing of the Seals and the elements not been controlled affect in any way our skills?

Everyone looked at Kyoraku, whose question everyone, or at least the vast majority, hoped that he could receive a negative answer.

- Yes, it does. As the elements are uncontrolled, everything that is related to any of them is equally without control. And this includes hados, bakudos and even our own zanpakutos.

The eyes of several captains and lieutenants disbelievers were opened. Were the zanpakutos now uncontrollable?

-Phew... Luckily I am safe.- Kurotsuji Mayuri, Captain of the twelfth Squad breathed at ease- As my skills have nothing to do with those five elements, I can use them without any worry. For a moment I thought that it would interfere in my research.

- Exactly.- Agreed Commander Yamamoto.- The imbalance only affects those who have abilities related with the elements, but the rest can remain just as effective without risk. That is why I have commanded to call the lieutenants of the Third, Fifth and Ninth Squads so they spread in their respective squads the situation and forbid the use of elemental skills. Those who have no affinity to the five elements or are direct combat styled will relieve the others in vigilance.

- And what will we do to find the Seals? Are there any clues of their location? - Wondered Unohana Retsu, the Captain of the Fourth Squad.

- I doubt there is any. -Affirmed Kuchiki Byakuya, the Sixth squad's Captain.- If those Seals are so important they must have been under great security. Someone with the ability to enter and leave those places without no one could prevent it would not leave traces nor would leave loose ends.

- That is correct, we have no clue. We don't even know who the thieves are. We could even suspect of Aizen and his group.- Said Yamamoto.- The Elemental World's Squad's are performing an investigation in their own world. We seek in the spiritual world. If tracks that we collect points to Aizen, we will take steps foward to go after him.

- And what about the Human World?- Asked Kira, intervening for the first time. A silence reigned in the room. If the problem was so serious, they could not afford sending squads in search of the Seals to both Seireitei and the Human World.

- We could ask him.- Commented Captain Ukitake.

- Don't count on that. I doubt that Kurosaki Ichigo would be able to search for seals and find them.- Said Byakuya.

Kyoraku laughed lowly.- Well, who knows. Maybe he has more luck than us and finds them sooner. What's more, if we don't send him to do it, who then?

Byakuya remained silent, not having an answer for that.

- And do not think He will do it alone.- Kyoraku continued with a smile.- He has several and very interesting friends who will surely help him.

- True, true. Sure that Quincy will help.- Agreed Mayurí.- What a pity of him to not offer himself volunteer to experiment with

- Not to mention Yoruichi Shihouin and Urahara Kisuke also will be with him. And other friends, that Orihime and this huge guy, Chad- Added Soi Fong, the Captain of the Second Squad

-Ah, yes. That Chad I know him pretty well. He has much potential.- Commented Kyoraku Recalling his fight against him long ago.

- And I remember also that Kuchiki Rukia, member of my Squad, still remains with Kurosaki.- Added thoughtful Ukitake.- All together form a good group and know to fend for themselves.

- So be it!- Finished Yamamoto with a hit of his cane on the ground.- All of them are to be notified through Urahara Kisuke of their mission. We will send them someone who I will choose to support them. Captain Kurotsuji.- Added directing his gaze to Mayuri.-find a way to counteract the effect of the elemental unbalance so that we can, as far as possible, use our powers without fear of they turning against us. And control the situation in the Human World: If you can do something to stabilize the chaos there, we may be able to save us some misfortune.

- My, my. In a moment I've got accumulated a lot of work.

Seeing that there were no further questions or objections, Yamamoto declared the meeting closed.

While everyone went out of the room, the mind of Kira was boiling with thoughts on the matter. A serious problem had been hovering over all of them and its solution did not seem to be very easy. He was hoping not having to attend another meeting while he was Lieutenant again. Matters would be less serious if they did not invite lieutenants to attend them.


End file.
